Finding a Letter

The alphabet is an awesome thing. Since I use it everyday, I often take it for granted. When I walk to classes or look around campus, the last thing on my mind are the hidden letters in the architecture. Since I walk by the same buildings everyday, I often take them for granted too. This assignment was truly a homage to finding the beauty in everyday things.

With a fresh perspective on the assignment, I went out to look for such interesting coincidences. I thought finding a letter would be difficult but, I was able to find these four during class time.

 Some are a bit more obvious than others but I was surprised to see that in about fifteen minutes I was able to find four separate letters, W, X, E and Y! (I hope you can find them in the images!) I knew that after taking these pictures, I liked the letters made in nature much more than letters made by man made structures. With that in mind I grew ambitious and wanted to find the most interesting and picture perfect letter there was.

And then my procrastination attacked me. I was really excited about this project but when it came down to the week the first photoshop image was actually due, I realized all I had in my hand were these four images.So, the day before it was due I was determined to find the perfect image. And EVEN THEN, I decided to wait till the last minute. Monday at 5PM, I ran out the door to take photos because I was losing sunlight. Curse you procrastination!

I live in IV so I started walking around the neighborhood and found zero inspiration. What about the clouds? Nope. What about the trees? Nope. What about these rocks on the ground? Nope. The paradoxical thing is that while I had such limited time, I was being extremely picky about what I wanted to create. I guess in a way I really care about projects that allow my creativity to shine.

After not finding one thing that created a letter, I decided to go down to Del Playa and look at the sunset. Might as well watch something beautiful in what seemed like my failure. I decided I would just choose between my four, poor quality images. I have a DSLR so I felt it was such a waste to not use it, but my procrastination had taken its course. OR SO I THOUGHT!

The sunset created the perfect backdrop. The stairs leading down to the beach created a clear letter. I whipped out my DSLR and snapped a few pictures. Here's my final draft.

Although I don't advocate procrastination, this is one of the few (VERY FEW) cases it worked out perfectly. Waiting till sunset in my panic, the picture turned out more colorful than I had ever hoped for. I think the lesson I learned through this process is to...

1) Stop procrastinating even the fun and enjoyable projects

2) Sometimes, when we least expect it, things work out 

When I had given up and simply wanted to look at the sunset that's when I found the perfect image. I think in life too, there are times when we lose hope. But when we look to the simple and pleasurable things in life we gain new perspective. We get so caught up in the business of life, our hopes to become successful and the pressure to be on the "right track". But, when we take a step back, take a breath and appreciate the small things we realize we have so much already. I don't know what this has to do with actually processing and creating this image but I think I gained a life lesson without expecting it. 

I'm so happy with this little image and with the letter S these are the words that come to mind

Serenity, Sea, Simplicity, Splendor, Sweet.